NEWS
Astrotech’s BreathTest-1000 Confirmed to Detect Lung Disease Metabolites at Parts Per Billion
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Astrotech Corporation [NASDAQ: ASTC] announced that the BreathTest-1000™ lung disease screening device that is under development detects a known metabolite that is associated with lung diseases at very low parts per billion (ppb) concentrations. On March 25, the Company announced that it is working on developing the BreathTest-1000™ to detect volatile organic compound metabolites present in lung diseases such as the Coronavirus (“COVID-19”) and pneumonia.
“The Company just reached a milestone in its vision of providing what it believes to be a highly accurate field instrument that, subject to applicable regulatory approval, may provide lung disease testing worldwide. Today’s news is exciting because it accelerates the development process of the BreathTest-1000™ and we believe gets us closer to joining the front-line in the fight against lung diseases, such as COVID-19,” stated Thomas B. Pickens III, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Astrotech Corporation.
“The Company was able to move quickly in the development of the BreathTest-1000™ because the core mass spectrometry technology it utilizes has been fully commercialized and deployed for explosives trace detection. Our goal is to satisfy all regulatory requirements for the BreathTest-1000™ as rapidly as possible once the necessary application developments are completed. We believe that few, if any, changes will need to be made to the underlying technology. We plan to devote our efforts towards developing a simple and consistent sample introduction system,” Mr. Pickens concluded.
